While the AHE only took place during the last two days of October and the first two days of November, the two weeks before that was a good time to get ready for it.
While Animalia-style costumes were definitely going to be there, there was also offers for spooky temporary fur dyes as well as a new product for Animalians with scales. It was along the lines of a cross between temporary henna and latex body paint. It could stay on for long periods of time, yet still come off in the wash. One popular kind of both fur dye and scale paint was glow-in-the-dark Phosphorous, with the Swamp Phosphorous being more green than the Ghostly Phosphorous, for example, and more popular with aquatic and reptilian Animalians. There was also included manuals on how to apply the paint to achieve a certain look, such as a Swamp Thing with Swamp Phosphorus, or a skeleton with Ghostly Phosphorus. For female or male Animalians going exclusively in body paint, there were special phosphorescent shorts (for both genders) or pasties (for females) designed to blend in with the designs used.
While the return to Spookyville was part of the Exposition, there was a few new additions, such as an “alien encounter/abduction”; a demonic farm that included an encounter with a demon-possessed, murderous scarecrow; and a voodoo swamp with a modern rendition/re-enactment of Mamba Wamba and the Voodoo Hoodoo, a Jazz band made entirely of skeletons, and other “haunted swamp encounters”.
The “adults only Halloween party” at the Meat Market was shaping up to be rather interesting, but the invitations were limited to only those who were either over the age of 18, or were double dosed Animalians. Miss Vivian’s Intimacy Boutique got on the act with adult Animalian costumes only available through her store.
There was also a place arranged to get small bags of candy in return for used clothing for charity. It involved feeding bags of used clothes into the mouth of a giant jack-o-lantern, causing it to laugh demonically, then cough, then burp up a small bag of Animalian-safe candy, then say “Thank you, and Happy Halloween” in a spooky tone of voice. This was especially popular with converted Animalians who couldn’t wear their old clothes anymore.
Lyre Dentistry came up with a creative plan to both celebrate Halloween and teach about good tooth care habits. One plan was to have several bobbing for apples games, with Animalian-safe, sugar free candy as prizes. Another was trick-or-treaters encountering an encounter with a demon seemingly made of candy, but getting saved by superheroes based off of toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss. For example, Brushogun was a samurai equipped with what looked like a cross between a giant toothbrush and a samurai sword.
During the preparation, there were plenty of demonstrations on how special effects were used to achieve certain things, such as animatronics for animated skeletons. Also, judging by the responses on the Animalia Website, this year’s AHE was shaping up to be even bigger than last time.